Between the Obama Administration’s ‘rebuilding’ plans and Britain’s notorious Trident, the lesson of nuclear weapons is that no matter how much money has been wasted on them, nations can always think of excuses to waste billions more building newer versions of weapons whose use is unthinkable.

Russia’s decided to get in on that, announcing its own plans to replace the Voyevoda ICBMs with a new type of long-range nuke-capable missile called the Sarmat.